To Be Sincere and Kind
by Dr. Breifs Cat
Summary: COMPLETED Unfortunately, Ken's not being either right now, but he's going to keep trying. Five chapters of a KenYolei multiparter.
1. Part One

Disclaimer: I don't own the show Digimon, the creatures Digimon that are found on the show Digimon or the Digidestined, that hang out with the creatures Digimon on the show Digimon.

****

To Be Sincere and Kind

"Let's go, Ken!"

"Yolei," Kari admonished, "we're here to root for Davis!"

"_You're_ here to root for Davis," Yolei countered with a grin. "Leafmon, Poromon and I are rooting for Ken." She gestured to the two pastel colored blobs squished together on her lap, whom to most of the world appeared to be stuffed toys. 

"But Ken doesn't need anyone to root for him, his team never loses," Kari reasoned. "Davis needs support."

"Oh, shouting his name won't really make a difference," Yolei said. "But it'll just feel nice to know we're rooting for him. I bet Ken doesn't have friends here besides us."

"So why don't we all root for both?" T.K. asked from his seat on Kari's other side.

"No way," Yolei said, "if we root for both, then we can't brag when our guy's team wins."

"Bragging rights are very important," Gatomon agreed from her hiding place behind Kari.

It wasn't until after we got home from the soccer match that Leafmon told me about the conversation. He was proud of me, I think, that I had become someone worthy of having a friend be gung-ho about rooting for me. Yolei was right, of course, it did just feel nice to know someone was on my side. People backing you up because they honestly like you is something I was pretty sure I'd never experience a few months ago.

Anyway, after the match, but before I home with Leafmon, Davis and I met up in the locker room to change back into our street clothes and meet everyone, that is, Kari, T.K., Yolei, Cody, all of our In-Training level Digimon, and Davis's older sister June, for celebratory hamburgers. I had no idea what we were celebrating, I suppose Davis just thought it sounded good. June was only coming because she heard T.K.'s older brother Matt was going also, but once he heard that June was, he bailed. No one bothered to tell June.

"Good game," Davis said. "I didn't fall on my face this time!" He clapped me on the shoulder just as we exited, and we heard the unmistakable sound of Kari click a picture with her digital camera.

"That's gonna be a great picture," she said, waving the camera.

I ducked away from Davis's hand and strided over to Yolei to retrieve Leafmon. She handed him over and adjusted her hold on Poromon simultaneously.

"I knew your team would win, Ken," she said, smiling. "I was rooting for you the whole time. Not that it would make a difference since you're such a great soccer player." She was on the verge of babbling, but I didn't point it out. I'm still kind of awed whenever any of the Digidestined treat me like a real friend. I know I'm one of them, but somehow it seems like they shouldn't have been able to get past my being the former Digimon Kaiser.

"Hey!" Davis shouted, "Are we going to get burgers or what?" His shout, as usual, inspired a bit of laughter from most of the group, everyone but June and I, really.

"We should wait for Matt," she insisted. "Where is he, anyway?"

"Something came up," T.K. quickly covered up, not very well, I might add.

"Like what?" June asked suspiciously.

"He needed to help my brother with the, uh, the--" Kari butted in, trying to help out T.K. She snapped her fingers, making a show of trying to remember.

"Dinosaurs." T.K. finally said. "Matt's helping Tai on a school project about dinosaurs."

"In high school? That's more of an elementary project," June said.

"It's really more like dinosaur _fossils_," I said. I was a little iffy about it, but I guess being part of their team means giving them a hand tricking June as well as giving them a hand in defeating evil Digimon. "It's for Earth Science," I concluded.

"Oh. I know about dirt! I could help them!" June exclaimed. "I'll go to Tai's right now!" She took off at a run in the direction of Taichi's and Kari's apartment.

"Uh-oh," Yolei breathed. "What happens when she finds out that Matt's not at Tai's place?"

"Tai is at Sora's," Kari said, "no one's home to answer the doorbell at all since our parents are out running some errands."

"And Matt's at band practice," T.K. piped up, "we can just tell June that they must have gone to library."

"Can we get some food now?" Davis whined.

"Yeah!" DemiVeemon exclaimed. "I'm starving!" The other Digimon agreed, allowed to express themselves now that only Digidestined were near.

Thus, we all trouped down to the local fast-food restaurant. I was really trying to allow myself to be a member of their circle at all times, not just when they needed Stingmon or his and Exveemon's DNA Digi-evolution, but once again I felt like a complete outsider. I normally only eat Japanese fare and had never been to one of these places before.

"What are you going to get?" Yolei asked from her place in line behind me.

"I-I'm not sure yet. What about you?"

"I almost always get a cheeseburger. The chicken sandwiches here are good too, sometimes I get one of those. Just stay away from the fish."

"What do you want, Leafmon?" I asked my ever-hungry Digimon. As Wormmon, he had a very small appetite, but Leafmon could eat more than any human I'd ever seen.

"I want what Upamon's having, Ken," Leafmon said around his pacifier.

"All right." I looked around. Cody had been first on line because he was the youngest and just got his order. It looked like he got a double cheeseburger for Upamon and a chicken sandwich for himself.

"Two number three's," I said when it was my turn to order. I figured I would have what Leafmon wanted as well, if it was good enough for my Digimon, it was good enough for me. Leafmon nudged me, just slightly. "Could you super-size one of them?"

"Sure," said the teen-ager behind the counter. "For here or to go?" I looked around, the building was small, and looked like it was filling up quickly. Cody, Davis, Kari and T.K. had managed to get a table, but it was a small one. I didn't want to impose.

"To go," I sighed. A few minutes later, I had Leafmon under my arm and a bag of cheap food in my other hand. I walked out of the restaurant after paying and stood.

"Well, where do you want to go, Leafmon? Right or left?"

Before Leafmon could push his pacifier into the corner of his mouth enough so that he could answer, Yolei ran out of the restaurant and stopped short before knocking into to me.

"Come on, Ken," she said. "I know where there are some benches in the park around the block. We can eat there and then catch up with the rest of the gang."

She ran off and I had no choice but to follow her. When we got to the park, we sat across from each other at a picnic table with our digimon next to us. Yolei did most of the talking; I just nodded and held on to Leafmon's pacifier while he stuffed his little round blob. When he finished, I gave his binky back to him and tried my burger. It was pretty good.

Yolei tried to drag me into the conversation, but I've always been on the quiet side. Except when devising evil plans, but she doesn't need to know that. When the four of us were finished eating, Yolei suggested that we go find Davis and the others, but I told her I had to go home.

"Okay. See you around, Ken. You, too, Leafmon."

"Bye!" Poromon called.

When we got home, Leafmon told me about the conversation Yolei and Kari had. I felt pretty bad about running off like that. Not the 'I-was-an-absolute-monster' bad that I had been feeling lately, but an 'I-ditched-my-friend' bad, which, believe it or not, was worse. 


	2. Part Two

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To Be Sincere and Kind

"Ken!"

I turned to see Yolei running to catch up with me. I stopped in my tracks and waited until she reached my side. 

"Hi. You're a morning person, aren't you?" I couldn't help but note she looked pretty tired. It was Monday morning, two days since I the soccer match and my earlier attempt to meld into the Digidestineds' circle of friends. I hadn't seen any of them since last Saturday. I spent most of Sunday just hanging around the apartment with Leafmon or my parents.

"I guess," I said with a slight shrug. I never had trouble getting up for school, but I had spent so much time lying down lately that I ranked pretty high on the lazy scale.

"Lucky," she remarked. "I'm running late. Normally I walk to school with T.K. and Cody, but I overslept today. Gotta go!" With that, she took off at a run in the direction of the public junior high. I continued walking towards my own school. What had just happened was a bit bizarre. She was late for school, yet she stopped for no other reason than to just say hello. 

At school I was able to focus on the work I was assigned. It was fairly simple--review mostly. The semester exams are next week and naturally, everyone has to be prepared. School is actually a very good place for me to spend time at. I can become absorbed in what I'm doing and forget, at least for a few hours, what I had done in the past. School was probably the easiest thing in my life in the real world to get readjusted to.

Home had changed drastically. My parents were so sure that my 'disappearance' a few months back had something to do with them, or how I was raised. It did, probably, but that didn't mean I wanted them to be different people. I was the only one who had to become a different person. 

And then there was the Digidestined. We went from enemies, to allies and now trying to be friends. They've accepted me, they might even be used to me, but that still doesn't change the fact that I don't really know how to act, what to say, what they expect of me. Or if they even expect anything at all. I've never been a productive member of a group before. It's always been just me, or Leafmon and I, but not anymore. 

Like last week, after the soccer game, when Davis was acting all buddy-buddy, or when Yolei and Poromon choose to eat with me instead of the others, or when I started making excuses about Matt and Tai. I was becoming part of a group and I didn't really know what that meant. And it wasn't like there was some textbook on how to be a good friend that I could study.

The private school I attend dismisses the students earlier than the school most of the Digidestined go to, so when I left that afternoon I didn't see any of them around. I wasn't sure if I should be relieved, or happy, or wait for someone or what. On one hand, I was always nervous when I was with them, so being alone constituted being relieved or maybe a little happy. On the other hand, a good friend should want to spend time with his friends, even if he doesn't really feel like doing anything. 

I eventually wandered to the soccer field we were all at last weekend. No games were going on yet, so I rented a ball and did a few drills, in my school uniform and all. I think I may have been acting like a normal kid. It was kind of nice, really. I don't think I've been a normal kid since before my brother died. 

After a while, I noticed Cody was looking at me through the fence around the field. He still doesn't like me. He puts up with me for the sake of the others, and he probably knows that I'm not going to kill him in his sleep or anything, but he still doesn't like me. I don't blame him; I don't like me, either. I probably should have said hello, or something, like a friend, but I don't think Cody is the right person to reach out to. Maybe I'll try to really talk to someone who doesn't scowl at me when no one's looking. After a few minutes, I noticed Cody left. He probably had homework to do anyway.

About half an hour later, I was returning the soccer ball I had rented when I heard some familiar voices. Sure enough, Davis, T.K., Kari and Yolei were walking home from school together. If memory serves correct, my school gets out first, then Cody's, then the junior high, which Cody was still too young to attend. He'll probably start going there next year. I decided not to go over there. They could use some Ken-free time. 

Just to be on the safe side, when I left the field, I used another exit. Hopefully, they wouldn't see me and start the whole our-new-best-friend routine. I figured I might as well go home. On the way, I remembered that the desk lamp in my room was running low on batteries and decided to stop into a store to buy a new pack. Nice, normal things to do.

I went in the nearest convenience store and found the right kind of batteries pretty quickly. As I was paying, Yolei walked into the store as well.

"Hi, Ken," she said brightly. "What brings you here?"

I gestured to the batteries.

"My dad owns this place," she said finally, trying to make conversation. She leaned over and dropped her bookbag over the counter for safekeeping. "Wanna do something? I don't have any homework today, but the others do."

Seeing her made me feel bad about leaving on Saturday all over again. 

"All right," I said putting the batteries and my change in my pocket. The lamp could wait.

"So, what do you want to do?"

I shrugged. She left the store and I followed her. We walked down the city street with her talking to fill the silence. I don't remember most of what she was saying; I was listening to her voice more than her words, and the alien experience of someone just chattering at me. Most people assume I'm the no-nonsense type, and only talk to me when it's pertaining to something important. But when there is no topic, I don't mind getting off-topic. It's just rare for me to have no defined subject.

"You're being really quiet," Yolei pointed out after a while. "Are you okay?"

I looked at her. We had both been looking at the road in front of us, but now we were looking each other in the eye.

"Not really," I said, honestly.

"Penny for your thoughts," she said, jabbing me playfully with her elbow.

"Why do you want to know my thoughts?" I asked.

"Cause you're my friend."

"Why am I you're friend?"

"What's with all the questions?" she huffed.

"It's what I was thinking, now where's that penny?" I guess I was getting more comfortable with Yolei, making really stupid, half-hearted attempts at lame jokes, like I used to do with Wormmon when I was in a really good mood.

"Do I have to have a reason to be friends with you?" she asked, depositing a penny in my hand.

"Yes."

"Well, I guess maybe because you don't have a lot of friends, and the people who don't have a lot of friends are the ones who need them the most."

"So you hang out with me because you think I _need _someone to hang out with?" 

"Ken, the best kinds of friends are the ones you need."

I was silent. That never occurred to me.

"I gotta go home. I didn't tell anyone I was going out," Yolei said. "Look, Ken, if you ever need someone, well, a human someone, to talk to, you can talk to me, okay?"

I nodded. Yolei grinned, clapped a hand on each of my shoulders and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek. Before I knew it, it was the second time that day I'd watched her run away from me.

"Ken, where have you been?" Leafmon asked when I got home.

"I went to the soccer field after school and then was with Yolei."

"Good for you, Ken! But remember, you have exams coming up! Time to study!"

I laughed and changed the batteries in my desk clock. Flicking it on, I settled down with textbook and smiled at the open pages staring back at me. 


	3. Part Three

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To Be Sincere and Kind

On Tuesday, I had soccer practice at the field. I don't think my team is entirely used to my being back for good yet. The team is still working on everything going back to the way it was. Funny, I don't want that. Before, I was the captain of the team, not to mention the star player. While what's left of my ego doesn't mind being the star player, it'll be a long time before I want to be the leader of anything again. That's not the sort of thing I can say to a group of eleven and twelve year olds. At least, not eleven and twelve year olds who don't know where I've been. If I wanted to tell Leafmon or Yolei or even Davis, that I was uncomfortable with positions of authority, they'd understand completely. Well, not understand, but know where I was coming from, at least. The last thing I want to do right now is start barking out orders.

After practice, I ran straight home. I couldn't stand it, everyone was expecting me to tell them what to do. I had no right! Let them look to the coach, that's what he's there for! It was a few minutes after 5:30 when I got home. I dumped my duffel bag on the floor in my room and slammed the door behind me.

"What's a matter, Ken?" Leafmon asked when I got home.

"Practice," I answered. I crossed the room to my bed where Leafmon stays hidden and pulled him into my arms. Ever since he was reconfigured, I've just really liked holding him. I started pacing. My mind was racing with frustration.

"You're really tense, Ken," Leafmon pointed out.

"I know," I sighed. "I don't think I'm going to be able to concentrate on studying today."

"I've got an idea," Leafmon said.

"What?"

"We can go to the Digital World! No other humans are there, so you can relax and study outside in the nice weather! And I can Digi-volve into a form with legs!"

"You must get sick of being a little round blob, huh?"

"Sometimes, I just get the erge to walk. Hopping only gets you so far."

"Okay, okay, but we can't stay too long. I have to be back by seven, for dinner or my parents will get worried."

"Yay!"

I strolled over to my computer and flicked it on. Taking out my D-3, I performed the familiar sequence to open a port, and transported myself, Leafmon and a few books to the Digital World. A flash blinded me for a moment, but before I knew it, I was breathing in the clear air, with Wormmon by my side and those books resting in a neat pile in the grass. I dropped backwards and lied down in the grass. The sight of Wormmon's big blue eyes greeted me, and suddenly, the day seemed a lot brighter.

"Enough legs for ya?" I asked, tapping one of his claws.

"Yeah!"

I rolled over on to my stomach and pulled the top book off the pile and opened it. As I read, I bent my knees so that my feet were in the air and waved them a bit. Wormmon marched in circles around me, content in my company and being able to walk.

"Japanese history. Never a strong point of mine."

I looked up to see Hawkmon hovering over me and reading over my shoulder. Naturally, Yolei was near by.

"Hi, Ken," she said. "I was on-line and saw someone was here. Once I realized it was you, I figured I ought to come over before Cody finds out you were here alone and throws a fit."

"He doesn't seem like the type," I said.

"He's not," Yolei said. She dropped to the ground beside me and sat, pulling her legs up to her chest. "They don't think badly of you, Ken, but coming here alone is pushing your luck. They might assume you're trying something. Cody especially, but you know how Davis is, too."

"I'm not trying anything, Yolei, I just thought I could relax."

"Bad day?"

"Very."

"What happened?" She asked.

"I had soccer practice," I muttered.

"Don't you like soccer?"

"Yes, but I'm the captain of the team. Everyone was looking to me for instructions."

"Oh," She squeaked.

"If I have to tell one more person what to do, I think I'm going to vomit."

Yolei was silent.

"The worst part," I said, rolling over to lie on my back, "is that I have to tell them to kick the ball." I reached over and pulled Wormmon onto my stomach. "Do you have any idea how many times I kicked Wormmon?" 

Wormmon snuggled against me.

"It's all right, Ken," he said. 

"No! It's not!" I cried, sitting up.

"Ken," Yolei said, "you saw what you were doing was wrong, and then you helped save this world. Ken, you have to stop beating yourself up over it. It's in the past, and you can't change it. You can only try to make things better and you have. You've earned your Digimental, Ken. You're a very kind boy, you don't deserve what you're doing to yourself."

"Yes, I do. Yolei, it's the only thing in the world that I deserve."

She scowled. I noticed there were tears forming in the corners of her eyes. I sat up, awed. And then she hit me. Hard.

"If you really believe that, don't bother talking to me until you come to your senses." Yolei stood and I could see the tears were spilling down her face. Furiously, she wiped them away. "Come on, Hawkmon," she sniffed. "We're going home."

I didn't say anything, I didn't try to stop her. I just laid back down and let her leave. 

I don't know how to act around her. 


	4. Part Four

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To Be Sincere and Kind

Life continues. That's the great thing about it. Even when someone is as low as they can get, life goes on. And my life went on. I went to school, I did my homework, I excelled in sports, and in my spare time, I hung out with Leafmon and wrote computer programs. I let myself get numb to the world most of the time. That way, nothing reminded me of what I had done. I never bothered with any of the Digidestined. As far as anyone else was concerned, nothing ever happened. I put up the same good kid front that I had my entire life. My parents were happy; I was back to normal. My soccer team was happy; I led them to victory. The school administration was happy; I was in the news, on T.V., in newspapers and magazines, giving them great publicity. The boy genius was back.

Of course, I got no satisfaction from any of this. I was practically dead to world. Leafmon became worried about me. I assured him that he shouldn't be; this was just the way my life was and as long as I had him to know the real me, I would be fine.

A few months after the soccer match against Davis's team and my meetings with Yolei, the goggle-wearing leader of the second group of Digidestined sent an e-mail received by all the D-3s. The Digital World was safe for now and we had no reason to continue leading double lives. The old Digidestined and new Digidestined were going to meet in the Digital World for one last visit. DemiVeemon, Poromon, Upamon, Gatomon and Patamon were going to stay in the Digital World for good. The e-mail didn't list the Digimon individually, it just said that the Digimon were staying in their world after this. That included Leafmon. 

On the decided date, I sent him alone. I thought I made it clear that he was staying in the Digital World like the others, but he returned. He explained that he only went in the first place to tell them that he was staying in the Real World. He refused to leave me.

He also told me that the others were angry that I didn't show up. Yolei apparently called me a whole list of unflattering names. 

Thus ended my association with the Digidestined.

Or so I thought.

When I was in seventh grade, two years after my stint as the self-imposed Digimon Emperor, Leafmon and I patronized a local computer components store. On one particular occasion, I needed to update my operating system in order to allow the beta model of a program I was writing have a test run. As usual, where ever I went the whispers of 'That's Ken Ichijouji!' and 'Is that the boy genius?' followed me. Normally, those don't interest me at all, but on that particular day, I over heard a conversation that did.

"Hey, guys, look!" Kari had whispered rather loudly. "It's Ken!"

"Huh?" Yolei looked up from the products she had been comparing at the same time I peeked at their group out of the corner of my eye. 

"What's he doing here?" Cody hissed.

Kari rolled her eyes. "Probably buying a computer program. Let's go say hi!"

"Why bother?" Yolei asked bitterly. "He's made it pretty clear he doesn't want anything to do with us!"

"Even if you say hi, I'm not going to," Cody growled. 

Yolei shoved the merchandise in her hands back on the selves.

"Would you just drop it, Cody?!" she demanded. "Ken doesn't need you and your petty resentment of him! What's done is done, get over it! It's been over with for a long time, anyway!"

"Gosh, Yolei," Kari observed, "you sure had a quick change of heart. One minute you're against saying hello and the next you act like not saying anything would be a crime."

"I'm just so sick of Cody hating him. Ken's whole problem is his past. Everything he does is some sort of sordid reminder of what he's done. If we can't even all accept him, how can we expect him to come to terms with himself? You saw how he acted when he realized what he'd done. You remember what it was like when he first starting fighting with us. He's been punished enough."

Yolei turned away from Cody and Kari and looked at me.

"He's still punishing himself," she whispered. "I can't stand to see him like that."

At that moment, I chose to face them, my eyes instantly locked with Yolei's. A blush slowly crept up her cheeks and I turned away. I picked out the correct operating system upgrade and paid for it; ignoring the cashier's bragging about Ken Ichijouji shopping in his store. I refused a bag for my purchase, gesturing towards my knapsack. I took a few steps away from the register and for the benefit of my fellow Digidestined, made quite a show tucking the components into my knapsack along side Leafmon. 

The following summer, I meant to enter a program of mine into another contest. This program was pretty useless; it was designed to teach young children how to tie their shoes. In my room, I had a CD rack that held all the programs I'd made burned on CD-ROMs, but when I left one morning to turn it in, I grabbed the wrong disk.

I didn't realize it until I got home and by that time, it was too late to exchange the programs. I got into a lot of trouble for it; my parents said they never heard that much cursing in their lives.

Leafmon, as always, tentatively asked what was wrong. I think he might have been afraid I was going to take my frustrations out on him. I have to admit, I was acting like a foul-mouthed version of the so-called 'Digimon Kaiser.'

"I entered the wrong disk," I told him. "It was the one with our game on it."

Our game was something Leafmon and I had been working on together for a long time. I wanted to try my hand at a computer game; making programs gets old after a while. We were almost finished with it, but I didn't make a back up for most of the files. The back up I still had allowed for game play, but not alterations and writing. It still had a few bugs to work out and I hadn't been able to get all the sound clips programmed in yet. I wanted to do the villain's manic laughter myself, but I had serious trouble getting it right when nothing was sadistically funny.

Leafmon was upset, too. He really liked the game itself. For me, it was more like therapy. 

A week or so before school started that fall, I got a letter saying my game had won first prize. Leafmon and I were very excited, more so because we would be getting the disk back rather than just generally happy about winning. I had enough awards so that losing wouldn't bother me. Too much. 

The letter said that a banquet was being held for the first, second, third, and honorable mention winners and that was when I would get the tangible award. I could bring as many guests as I liked, but since there was no one else; I just went with my parents.

"This is so exciting!"

I had lowered my head onto the table, trying to keep a low profile once we were there. Of course, that wouldn't last long; once the first place winner was announced, I could expect the normal buzzes of 'It's Ken Ichijouji!' Anyway, when I heard that gleeful voice, I assumed who ever won one of the other prizes was a first time winner. I pulled my head up to see who ranked almost as high as me. 

Sitting at a table halfway across the banquet hall were some people I never expected to see. Yolei had a letter; she must have won one of the prizes. Izzy sat to her left, offering many congratulations. A woman who appeared to be her mother sat at her right, her father next to her and finally a sibling. Kari, Davis, Cody and T.K. also sat around the table. At another near by table, were other guests of Yolei's; Tai, Sora, Matt, Joe and surprisingly Mimi. She must have discovered that she could travel from America, to the Digital World, to Japan. I had been wondering how long it would take them to figure that out. Four other people unrelated to the Digidestined had been seated with them as each table held nine.

The meal was served then the sponsor of the contest stood and delivered a rather long speech on those who would inherit the responsibility of our world. And then the winners were announced, called up to the podium, and asked to say a few words. The cousin of an honorable mention was sitting at my table; the other honorable mention was a tall skinny boy with thick glasses. Third place was a somewhat chubby boy.

"Second place," the sponsor announced, "Yolei Inoue!"

I watched as the tables occupied by the Digidestined exploded in applause. Yolei, grinning from ear to ear stood and half ran half walked up to the podium. She vigorously shook hands with the sponsor.

"I've never won anything before," she remarked when asked to make a short speech. "But, I would really like to thank my parents and my friend Izzy, who must have tested my firewall a hundred times before deeming it un-hackable. All my other friends, too. Love you guys!" Then she took her seat behind the podium with the other three. 

"First place," the sponsor announced, "Our grand prize, goes to..."

A hush fell over the hall. I rolled my eyes.

"KEN ICHIJOUJI!!!" the sponsor shouted.

The moment I stood, cameras all over the room flashed like crazy.


	5. Part Five

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To Be Sincere and Kind

I walked up to the podium, fully aware that the Digidestined were staring at me with wide eyes. In the midst of rubbernecks trying to get pictures of me, the applause started. It grew louder and louder as I neared the sponsor. I smiled; Yolei was cheering for me. It still feels nice.

I shook the hand of the sponsor rather disdainfully. He was involved with the contest for the publicity, not because he cared about the contestants and our 'inheritance' of the future. He was thrilled that I was there. Was there any better publicity than a teen prodigy shaking your hand?

"My speeches," I said when the time came, "are always the same. I am sure my parents are getting tired of them by now, but there is only one thing I can really say. Today, I feel the need to expand on my normal subject. I have no one to thank. Those who helped me get where I am right now wouldn't be able to hear that thanks, so I'll save my breath. So now, I'll just get to my normal comment." I inhaled and looked around the hall. My parents were teary-eyed, the Digidestined were on the edge of their seats, the sponsor was smirking, various other people were still snapping pictures. I raised my fist above my head. "As always, this one's for you, Sam!" With that I took my seat with the other winners. 

Next to Yolei.

"Congratulations," she whispered.

"You, too," I whispered back. The sponsor was up at the podium again, speaking about his wonderful company that provided funding for the contest. Neither Yolei nor myself cared.

"Who's Sam?" she whisper-asked.

"My brother."

"Is he here?"

"He's dead."

The conversation was effectively ended. She probably would have said she was sorry to hear about Sam if I had seemed sad about it, but I kept my cool and she dropped it. A few moments later, we were permitted to return to our tables and I avoided her for the rest of the night.

Before I returned home, I received my disk. I kept a tight grip on it the entire car ride home. I ran to my room when we arrived.

"Leafmon! Wake up!" I nudged the napping Digimon.

"Ken," he yawned, "What time is it?"

"It's only 10:30. Look, I got our game back. It won't take too long to finish it up. If we work non-stop, we can get work the bugs out and put the sound bites in by morning."

"Why can't we just finish tomorrow?"

"Because," I practically whined, "I've got plans for the finished copy. Nothing devious, I promise."

"Okay," Leafmon said and yawned again. I scooped him up carried him to the computer, where I deposited him on the desk. Then, I inserted the disk in the CD drive and cracked my knuckles, ready to input all our collaborations.

We worked at it almost non-stop. Every so often, I had to stop typing to fetch Leafmon a snack. When we finished, it was near noon the next day. I burned a few back ups to other CDs. If I had my way, I wouldn't have the original for much longer, but I never wanted to be without a copy. 

When the disk was ready, I pulled out the little folded up piece of paper that belongs tucked inside the case. I reached for the nearest pen and uncapped it. I chose the words that I wrote in the CD booklet carefully. 

"Well, Leafmon, what do you think?" I asked when I finished. The Digimon read my note. Teaching Leafmon to read had been easy; I wrote a program for reading when I was in third grade and it worked wonderfully for Leafmon.

"Perfect," he beamed.

"Good. Now, I'm going to drop this off, do you want to come?"

"Nah, carrying the knapsack would slow you down, and I'm tired anyway."

"All right, I'll be back in about fifteen minutes." I picked up Leafmon and carried him to the pillow he slept on. 

That evening, about six hours after delivering the game, Leafmon and I were out on the balcony that served sort of like a back porch for the apartment. Ever since I had spoken about Sam the night before, I'd had this erge to blow those soap bubbles like my brother and I used to as children. 

The doorbell rang. That was uncommon. No one in my family socialized much. I didn't bother to see who was at the door. I heard my mother open it anyway.

"Is Ken here?"

"He's out back," I heard my mother answer. She gave the visitor directions to the balcony/porch. I heard the door behind me slide open.

"You really are a genius, you know that?"

I turned around. Yolei stood before me, the CD I left at her place in her hand.

"I know. What do you think of the game?"

"Why'd you make it?"

"Well, I make my parents happy by acting like the perfect son, I make my soccer team happy by making them win, I make my school happy by being the perfect student, but I could never make myself happy. So I took the thing that made me unhappy and turned it against itself. I made a game out of destroying what was keeping me down. It was therapy."

"The graphics are incredible," Yolei said, "Especially during the Digi-volve sequences."

"You really like it?"

"I love it. I haven't gotten through the whole game yet, though. It's pretty hard."

"How far did you get?"

"Let's see, I had Hawkmon, the Digi-Egg of Sincerity and the possessed Digimon had Dark Spirals. Oh, and the scenes with the Emperor and Wormmon are so cute!"

"Digimon: Digital Monsters, the computer game. That _was_ a great idea, wasn't it?" 

"Perfecto," she answered.

We were silent for a few minutes. I noticed out of the corner of my eye that Leafmon had hopped back inside, leaving Yolei and I without an audience.

"I'm glad that you've reconciled with yourself, Ken."

"What makes you think that?"

"You're talking to me again, aren't you?"

"Yeah..."

"And you made fun of yourself an awful lot in that game."

"I know."

Yolei folded her arms around my shoulders, hugging me. We stared into each others eyes for what seemed like a long time. And she kissed me. Not on the cheek like last time, but right on my lips. 

"Sorry," she said when she pulled away, "but you have no idea how long I've wanted to do that."

"Don't be sorry," I said, shaking my head. She started to untangle herself, but I caught her arms and held onto her. "I can guess..."

"Was it that obvious that I like you?" she asked, embarrassed.

"That's not what I meant."

"You're too kind," she muttered sarcastically.

"And you're too sweet, sincere and accepting," I said, completely honest. Her arms tightened around my shoulders again. I leaned in and kissed her mouth.

"Stay so kind," Yolei whispered when we parted.

"I will."

****

~Owari~


End file.
